


Villa Ultraviolet

by MargoAquato



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Friendship, Humor, Memories, Mentions of Death, Post-Canon, Secret Relationship, Self-Indulgent, guys it's really headcanons, headcanons, mention of drugs, sweet interaction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27994929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MargoAquato/pseuds/MargoAquato
Summary: How can spending the night in enemy territory strengthen friendship?Текст доступен на русском языке.
Relationships: Amara/Moze (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Villa Ultraviolet

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Villa Ultraviolet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27068101) by [MargoAquato](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MargoAquato/pseuds/MargoAquato). 



> First of all I want to thanks to @AnDrawer for editing rhis text and making it possible to read it in English, she was very patient with all the stuff and I felt very comfortable working with her, check out her links:  
> https://twitter.com/MissAnDrawer  
> instagram.com/your_hat
> 
> Secondly I want to mention that this text was written for a very dear person and it was just fun to make, I'm not a writer, but I was itching to write something nice, which I havent done for ages (since 2013, I guess?).  
> I also made two illustrations for it (careful, second has nudity)  
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ekr_x_xX0AUsf7R?format=jpg&name=4096x4096  
> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkzuIhfXEAADqok?format=jpg&name=4096x4096  
> So that's basically all I wanted to say, hopefully you'll also find it somewhat interesting to read, because this fandom desperaly needs mozara content, which can be called almost canon :D  
> Enjoy and thank you for spending some time on my writing!
> 
> And almost forgot: this text is set during the Revenge of Cartels even which took place in May :)

**VILLA ULTRAVIOLET**

"Oh, my back is so grateful that your pets are trained in other useful tricks than exterminating all living beings, my friend!" Zane stretched, not without pleasure,a distinct crunch in his back.The friend, android FL4K, nodded silently, looking at their pets enthusiastically dragging the corpses of cryptospec troopers in one pile.

On this day, the following happened: the vault hunters defeated Joey Ultraviolet; the leader of the Eridium Cartel, in a conflict with which their employer, the intelligent saurian Maurice, got involved, and consequently their got their hands on the luxurious mansion that Joey owned. The planet on which the vast possessions were located-Joey’s Planet was not so large and was easy pickings and laid claim to. At the moment the hunters, Fl4K's pack and Amara in particular, were clearing the territory, and trying to figure out what to do with all those riches.

By the modern standards of the six galaxies, the house was terribly old-fashioned and impractical, but expensive: made of stone and real wood, with figures made of gold (it was definitely gold, since Amara had already inadvertently broken something, and gold, as it is known, is a fairly soft metal), and at Moze's suggestion, they could start with melting down all the shiny metals and converting it into money.

Firstly, they had to get rid of the corpses, because they ruined the aesthetics of the place and being that it, or at least parts of it, consisted of meat, which would start to stink after a while. And while the gunshot marks and smoke stains on the walls here and there from their skirmishes caused no insignificant damage, these things did not impede movement quite like the strewn remains of the ex-cyborgs. The mercenaries were dumped in one pile, their crypto wolves in another, after which Moze will scavenge through for intact parts that she can use for the maintenance of her Iron Bear mech.

And so we find them thus-Zane loafing, tired of everything, fatigue and the consequences of a particularly strong hit from a Fish Slap overlapping, Fl4K's pack and Amara took on the physical labor – the siren’s additional arms hastening the process by being able to carry more than one body at a time,the android was looking at something with their usual android interest in their ECHO device, and Moze was dissecting the sparkling remains not far from everyone.

After long months spent on Pandora and aboard Sanctuary III, the visit to the planet made a certain impression on everyone — there was real greenery everywhere, and the air was incredibly clean and even somewhat sweet. Of course, after Eden-6, the amount of vegetation wasn't entirely unusual, but unlike the Eden, humidity did not clog the lungs, did not soak clothes and did not make skin stick to clothes and itself. Fighting in such conditions was a pleasure; it felt almost like a resort, except for the bullets flying past your face.

Time on this planet flowed slowly, creating a strange illusion of its non-existence. The vault hunters landed late in the morning in local time, and now the sun was just beginning to disappear at the other side of the horizon. According to the Sanctuary's clock, which they all kept while working for the Crimson Raiders, nearly sixteen Pandoran hours had passed. Meanwhile, Moze's clock, which always showed the time on her home world, was going crazy - hours were changing as fast as minutes. It was not surprising that the human part of the team felt increasing tiredness from such changes, it was always like this in new places, goddamn acclimatization, and only time can help with the issue which is what vault hunters always lack at their missions. Needless to say, everyone was silently envious of Fl4K, whose only problem in new places was the nausea of a member of his pack, Broodles, a spiderant that they never took with them on new planets until a few hours after landing had passed.

Later the vault hunters were in the spacious living room, which commanded a view of the garden with golden fountains outside through a broken panoramic window — a wonderful place with a lookout point and a waterfall that poured endlessly into the abyss (although one need to be aware of the railings that were broken during the siege).The only reason they didn't dump the bodies into the waterfall was because FL4K was absolutely against environmental pollution of any kind, so at their suggestion, it was decided to collect them all in one place, then dump them in a pit under the villa where the laboratory was located, and to forever block them with stone mass. More or less a solution.

Amara returned, leaving another pile of not-very-alive cyborgs in the yard, and, putting her blood-stained hands on her blood-stained hips, glared at the gray-haired operative who was lounging lazily on a leather chair.

"Zane! Why don't you see what food is left in this house? I'm so hungry," her accent was very pleasant, with her a voice often compared by her adoring fans to velvet. "Get up, loiterer!"

"Oh, one day you'll remember how old I am and stop bothering me with such trifles," Zane's sharp accent, which was usually tolerable, now sounded especially harsh.

Despite being with a robot that once served people, it was completely useless to disturb them now. After all the adventures that FL4K in their own way called "the eternal hunt", they gained even more human arrogance and stubbornness, and it seemed that after Lilith's disappearance Ellie became the only authority for them,although there was hardly anyone other than Claptrap who didn't respect the current Sanctuary's mechanic.

"Amara, dear, what makes you think there's anything to eat in this house? It looks like a sterile image from an ECHOnet, it's clearly a cover and there's hardly anything here, trust my experience," Zane held up his index finger, and Amara was about to yell at him. For the time spent together vault hunters have already become like a small family to each other.

From the other end of the room, Moze let out an exasperated groan.

"Zane, have your brains shrunken with age? What do you think all these half-humans ate here? Foliage?" the gunner was not visible behind the furniture, but it was possible to be afraid that some unnecessary tool would fly in from her side. "There's a cellar here, check it out. And the kitchen too, if we haven't completely demolished it."

"I give up, ladies, you beat Zane," he threw up his hands in defeat and finally stood up. In this position, Amara looked at him slightly from below, but it didn't make her any less dangerous. "I like the word cellar."

"Oh, gods, go away now, please, or I'll have to remind you more often how shamefully you lost at pok— "

"I'm gone!" Zane's digital clone instantly materialized in his place, bowing, and he was already at a respectful distance from his siren friend.

She sighed and looked around. This room had survived the hunters attack quite well, except for the broken glass that crunched under their shoes and there were holes in some of the furniture and walls from the bullets, but on the whole it was passable and the house looked nice if it was properly cleaned. The room, like the street, was filled with living plants, which, contrary to Zane's words about the sterile picture, gave the house a more habitable feel.

As soon as the sound of the operative's footsteps were far from earshot, Amara moved toward Moze, who was still taking the robots apart — how does she have all that energy to still be doing it after such a hard day? Judging by the stack of identical parts lying on the side, the gunner was definitely making progress. Amara tried to be quiet but her footsteps made crunching noises as broken glass was crushed under her shoes, which Moze heard clearly,who then turned to look at her as she approached.

"How's it going?" the siren asked with interest.

Moze turned and winked at her friend. Amara relaxed and held out her hand to help her up. Both were battered from a day of shooting, dried blood was flaking off Amara, and Moze was covered up to her elbows in soot from her favorite Children of the Vault guns, which were smoking like crazy – no one was afraid to get their hands dirty in their job.

The gunner had been sitting on the floor all this time, surrounded by a modest set of tools, which was enough for her purposes. She brushed the dust off her pants and stretched, twirling her hands. Amara didn't look away, and Moze knew it. There was a lot to see, since she was currently wearing only what used to be a white top, all dusty and grimy,a pair of pants and a tool belt, her jacket, helmet and pieces of armor perched on the nearby carved chair, her weapons lovingly laid out on the table. No more reinforcement will arrive here, travel stations and radio communications are blocked by Zane's tech, and Sanctuary III is snarling with new weapons not far from orbit.

"Good progress," Moze said, leaning against the wall and folding her arms.

She was the smallest of the team; for some reason, Amara always thought that the smaller you were, the more comfortable you were to control the mech, because from the outside, the Bear's cabin didn't look too spacious, let alone comfortable.

"God, Amara, stop looking at me like that, I see everything," Moze had been looking at her with her big green eyes all this time, her war paint had been smeared with sweat over time, and she could use a good shower (like all the other people in this house), but Amara couldn't help but think that even this looks good on her and that it's really hard to look away.

“I don’t know what this has come over me, but I’m ready to look at you until the sun finally disappears on the other side of the planet,” she covered the distance to her friend in two steps. “Take this as my apology. For my insolence and for stealing your loot while you were distracted. But most of all for the insolence.

She pressed her lips to Moze's cheek, and left a faint trace of her purple lipstick. 

"Is that enough?"

“Not for long, but that's enough,” Moze patted her shoulder with a chuckle, and rubbed off the kiss mark. "Maybe we should tell Zane already? You can't wait forever for him to come out, can you?"

"Zane has a long tongue, and I sometimes too quickly lose my patience when he opens his mouth." Amara shrugged. "But I think that everything has its time. It's more interesting to live with little secrets, and I'm not ready to listen to dirty soldier jokes not only from you, but from him too, " she finished with a light laugh.

***

**ON THE WAY TO NEKROTAFEYO**

Amara had not yet been able to visit all six galaxies, but from her experience in her home world and the missions she and the others had carried out for the Crimson Raiders for almost a year, it was clear that the cycle of life and death on the planets she was familiar with changed incredibly quickly. And in some moments, life went so crazy that you couldn't predict what would happen in the next hour, or whether tomorrow would come at all. She welcomed the idea of a relationship. It was something she desired having, but with their lives being in danger with every mission, she felt that romantic involvements were not exactly her priority. In fact, at one point, this was what she wanted, but with every mission putting their lives in danger, she felt that a romantic attachment was going to be a complication.

On the day of the flight to Nekrotafeyo, no one seems to have slept on Sanctuary III. Not only were the ship's engines humming, but the conversation never stopped, concentrated in Moxxi's bar, who was unable to cope with the influx of people who wanted to drink whatever was flowing from the beer taps that she had to enlist the help of Ava, since almost none of the others were able to keep their glasses steady, and trusting Claptrap’s sincere offer of help would not be so stupid as much as it was life-threatening.The noise for such a relatively small space was incredible — the music playing sof but distinct in the background joined by the louddin of slot machines, periodic announcements from BALEX, and, of course, the steady hum of chatter. There was an atmosphere of subdued excitement brought about by the latest news that the first vault hunter was found alive, and a planet once thought to be a myth, truly existed. Moxxi’s bar was the place where gossip lovers could warm up their ears at the moment.

The vault hunters took a table near the bar, away from the main noise and bustle-a difficult feat given that the bar had such a crowd that there were stragglers outside. Zane had brought some whisky with him from somewhere earlier — Moxxi, who went back and forth from time to time to make sure there were no fights, clearly showed that she did not approve of this and was ready to slap him with a corkage fee, but thought better of it. Who cared at this point? The world-nay, the entire six galaxies- was about to collapse, and Sanctuary III was responding to the call of the very first vault hunter in history, who had disappeared so long ago that some people thought he was fiction, and was now flying to the planet of a mysterious extinct race. What was happening seemed real to very few people. Fl4K seemed calmer than everyone else, although in general people rarely ever caught them in the process of generating human behavior and emotions.

"Why should I sit with you?" their tone was definitely displeased, "I can sit in my cabin, and on the bridge. Alone." 

"Oh, you still don't understand people very well," Zane said, turning his entire body to face them. "It's called socialization, you spend more time with people who are dear to you — we are dear to you, right? — and you establish good relations with them, discuss common problems and thus you become closer to each other…"

Zane was pretty drunk at this point, and his monologue about the importance of socialization and friendship didn't end there.

The robot took up a third of the small table, displacing some of the occupants and also they brought Broodles with them, who was now hiding somewhere under the table, the people sitting would on occasion accidentally touch her hard chitinous shell with their feet. Despite the noise and uncomfortable seating, Amara was unperturbed. She was seated between Zane and Moze. She rarely drank in general, trying to keep the spirit and body in shape and not give in to excesses. Not that she was one to shy away from liquor, but she avoided cheap or unknown alcohol, having been used to the finest libations, which in current circumstances could be obtained mainly in the major cities of Promethea and other big industrial planets (those planets that weren't Pandora). The downside to this taste was that it was hard to sit between friends who never disdained almost any kind of drink, and it was agonizing to think whether to join them or to listen to the inner voice of reason.

A huge plus was that one of these friends was the most beautiful woman she had met since her divorce and departure from Partali. Moze was drinking like it's her last time, laughing out loud as she listened to Zane's stories, which paused only to take a sip, telling her own, elbowing everyone every now and then. In general, such reckless fun on her part was a fairly frequent sight; Amara expected otherwise given that she grew up in a military family and devoted her whole life to wars and service in the Bear Corps. Moze loved to laugh and be loud, and without a doubt, alcohol increased the degree.

Amara had realized long ago that she was attracted to Moze in every sense of the word. As a friend, as a comrade in arms, as a person she can trust. Amara loved her for her openness and straightforwardness, sometimes for her blunt sense of humor, and for her priceless responses to her compliments.

With each new daily cycle on Sanctuary, Amara thought more and more about this woman, but to her surprise, she didn't know how to approach her. It was easier in her homeworld and maybe in the outskirts of it, where the siren was a celebrity, and where every encounter had only two outcomes - either people ran away, at the sight of it, or were ready to stay on their knees just to get to know the siren better and be under her protection. She didn't have to strain herself too much. Moze was a special event in her life, they met without knowing anything about each other, working as equals and talking about themselves as much as the situation required. Amara already knew that close relationships, like family, meant nothing to Moze; the only close friends she apparently had were the entire team of vault hunters and some of the Crimson Raiders. Probably, this is the imprint of education and events in Darzaran Bay, which she happened to hear briefly the other day. Amara couldn't even imagine how she would respond if she suddenly revealed her interest — she would laugh at best and say something painful at worst.

Amara was restless as the night flowed into the morning. It wasn't often that their team got together off the battlefield, and for a moment, it seemed to the siren that this day had given her a great chance to finally make a move. Furthermore, she was thought about the possible end of the world (not just theirs, but whole other worlds), about goddamn Tyreen, about the new planet, where perhaps there is the clue of the vanished race and that she really hoped to be the key to salvation, and these thoughts added to the pressure and was pushing her to take action.

Later, when the ship's clock began to show the time towards morning, Moxxi announced that most of the available booze had run out, and the people began to disperse, since the flight was still long enough. With BALEX announcing that at best the ETA would be in another twenty hours, the vault hunters decided it was time to go to their respective cabins. FL4K volunteered to take Zane — who seemed to be so badly drunk that he was almost passed out. By then Moze has regained some sobriety and she seemed more collected, but still not quite up to her standard. It was looking both hopeful and a little exciting to Amara. During the evening she limited herself to a couple of cocktails, about which she was not particularly enthusiastic, but they helped to brighten up the evening and she relaxed just a little. At one point, Moze offered to finish off the bottle that Zane had left — there was a little less than half of it left, that normally wasn't a particularly thrilling idea, but once she was alone with Moze, Amara would have drunk not only that nasty whiskey, but literally anything if only this helped her in her intentions.

"Amara, is something wrong? You've been looking at me so miserably all evening."

There were hardly any people left, and Moxxi and a yawning Ava slowly shook everyone inside the bar and half-jokingly asked them to leave. "Half", because the half after the request sounded like a threat.

"Really? Maybe. Maybe we can go to the rooms, too, and talk there if you want", — it was a very awkward evasion of an answer, but if they did have The Talk, she needed to make sure that there were no extra ears around. No Moxxi with her cheeky young assistant. Although there might be BALEX everywhere: the siren never gave a thought if he always listened to everything that was going on all over the ship, and where exactly he could listen. She tried to shake off the thought. No, it's definitely not worth thinking about their ship's AI right now.

Pushing back the battered chairs, heavily patched with duct tape and worn down by many seats, they wished the girls in the bar a good night's sleep after a hard night, and in gratitude for all the inconvenience, left them a generous tip. She knew Ava kind of wanted to make her room a little more comfortable when it was all over and she could visit the civilized planets — she wanted to stay on Sanctuary III, along with her siren sisters. Amara understood that comfort is an important part of feeling good when you are often surrounded by constant stress, and especially when you are a teenager who was foisted with a monumental responsibility overnight.

The lights on Sanctuary III were never completely extinguished; they always worked day and night without interruption only on the bridge. Big lights were lit throughout the ship during the day, and when they were shut off at night, along the walls were dim emergency lights in yellow and red. In the corridors, behind screens, were bunks the other denizens of Sanctuary slept. The women crept quietly past, trying not to disturb anything or anyone.

All around them everyone was retiring for the night, but Amara didn't want to sleep at all, and she was as excited as she could be on the battlefield.

The mess deck was empty at this hour. A single emergency lamp burned above the lost loot machine, and a few lights were added by colorful bottle garlands that stretched across the entire room, and the Quick-Change machine and Teleport station that worked day and night cast a faint glow. Outside, it was almost pitch dark, with only the rare stars of a dying world peering through the huge windows, and they were of little use, there were no planets, moons, or suns in sight, and it was estimated that there were still many hours to go before they would meet Nekrotafeyo, the Eridian homeworld.

Walking unsteadily past a table with playing cards and traces of trash scattered on top of it, Moze sank down on the sagging couch, which groaned sadly under the weight, and pulled her knees up to her chest. This couch was no longer afraid of anything.

"You never answered, tigress, spit it out," the gunner waved her hand, and this gesture was not like that of a person fully aware of themselves, and Amara still could not predict the reaction if she said everything as it is. "What happened, that you are on pins and needles all evening and you look at me constantly? This isn't the first time, and I want an explanation."

Amara caught herself fingering the beads on her left wrist. She settled herself on the other side of the couch and rested her feet on a crate that the locals had placed as a table. 

"How angry can you get if you don't like what I say?"

Moze looked up from her lap and looked at the siren.

"Depends on the reason. I hit people when they said I wasn't good at taking care of my Bear. Sometimes with a knife. I also hit people if they shoot at me, mostly with bullets. I can't imagine what I have to hear to want to beat you up. I'm intrigued, so tell me".

Amara swallowed and, after a moment's hesitation, asked about the most important thing at the moment:

"If I told you that my interest in you is more than that of a friend, what's your answer?"

Moze chuckled, resting her forehead on her knees.

"You're a grown tigress, but sometimes you're so stupid, hanging around, but not knowing how to grab an easy prey," Moze straightened up and in a single fluid motion unexpected of someone who was drunk closed the distance between them and she was leaning over her— it seemed the entire silent ship heard the couch heave beneath her knees. "I have nothing against you," Moze said simply. "Not in any sense".

Events were happening very quickly, Amara merely asked a question, expecting only a verbal response but here was the gunner, her face so close to her that she could smell the whiskey on her breath. She still has not gathered her thoughts quick enough for these developments. She was still hesitant. 

"And you don't mind if I-".

"Shut up," Moze covered her mouth with her own before she could finish what she was about to say, and for the first time in a very long time, Amara felt those butterflies in her stomach flutter down to the tips of her toes, which curled up in her shoes. All the waiting was worth it, and she felt a long-awaited relief, eagerly poured into the kiss, which lasted for what seemed like a long time, but for her it was only a couple of seconds, her mind filled with chaotic thoughts. Moze finally leaned back on the couch with a satisfied smile.

"Say something," she chuckled, glancing at her watch out of the corner of her eye. It was truly too late to stay up any longer.

Amara tried to put all her thoughts together in one sentence, but right now they were all scattered all over the place and didn't want to fit together.

"Thank you, I'm very happy for your understanding. And—" she noticed Moze looking at the time. "Do you want to spend the night at my place? Just for the night, but we can—" she corrected herself abruptly as Moze's eyebrows rose in surprise. "But I think you'll be happy to just get a good night's sleep, or we can talk if you want."

— If you really mean only sleep, then I'm all for it, because I can't do anything more interesting and require any amount of concentration. At least for now", gunner winked at the siren, then rose to her feet with a tired sigh. "Lead!"

Amara went to her door and unlocked it, letting the Moze go in first, and then slid in behind her, locking the door from the inside.

"Well, wow!" Amara had expected some similar reaction.

Moze walked to the center of the room, turning her head.

"How did you... How did you even get Commander Spitfire to take all this with you?

The Gunner had never been here before, and her curiosity was trying to overcome her fatigue with varying degrees of success. The place where Amara lived was the most similar to an ordinary human room — in addition to the mattress that served as a bed (which was round and very comfortable), there were flowers and miniature trees everywhere, there were a lot of books and near the modest standard sized kitchen everybody had in their cabins, a punching bag hung from the ceiling. The whole room was decorated in pleasant purple shades that made one forget that they were in a spaceship, assembled from a pile of metal. Amara did not let anyone in because, firstly, this is her personal zone of rest and comfort, only by coming here she gets rid of all thoughts about work, and secondly because some people might be envious and ask unnecessary questions.

Sinking down on the mattress on the floor, Moze stifled a yawn and kicked off her shoes and pants on the floor next to her and crawled under the covers. She turned on her side, still looking around the room.

"It was not all at once," Amara also began to get ready for bed: she stood by the tiny mirror in the cabinet door, combing her hair, which was always all tangled up by the end of the day. "I helped a lot with the repair of the Sanctuary after the intervention of ALICE, and in general I'm trying to invest in the development of the Raiders’ mission as much as possible. Lilith didn't even try to say no, and I'm too persistent and interested in success myself."

"Why does someone like you, already rich and successful, need all this?"

"I guess I'm abnormal," the siren chuckled, tossing her colored hair behind her back. "I'm tired of everything at home, it's time to focus on the audience of other planets, and well... I thought that if I could find a siren like me, I could learn more about myself. Why I exist, what is the purpose of my power. But they don't know anything. Maya promised to tell me what she found out from her book, but you know what happened to her. The only hope is for Tannis and ourselves. But...uh, let's talk in the morning, then."

Moze didn't answer.

Amara turned off the main light, leaving only the soft glow around the perimeter (her tattoos also glowed, but not bright enough to illuminate the room), and lay in bed as well. It was large enough to put enough distance between herself and the gunner but still be comfortable. She was acutely aware of Moze’s presence, just by inching closer and Amara would definitely not be able to sleep. She pretended to be calm as usual, but in reality, the overwhelming nervous excitement made her want to either kiss Moze to death on the spot, or to tear apart her punching bag with bare hands (or all at once), if only her body wasn't begging for rest.

"I don't think sirens are any different from ordinary people. You just have your own special magic, and so you are like people, and your blood is red..." with each word, Moze's speech became more slurred as she drifted into unconsciousness. "Unless you're a lot hotter than normal people."

In the half-light, Amara almost burst in laughter. She was happy here and now. In this world, it wasn't worth making long-term plans, but at this moment, everything looked fine. There was a lot to say and explain, but that's for later, and now she needs to rest.

***

Zane returned ten or fifteen minutes later, not empty-handed and very happy. He brought canned food with him — unexpectedly, the food had the logo of the Maliwan Corporation on it and, according to the operative's words, there was also something edible in the kitchen.

"Ladies, Zane has provided us with dinner. But firstly you need to check it for edibility, you can't trust Maliwan after what happened prior” referring to the things that have happened in recent months.

He solemnly set the cans on the table, and Moze came up to him, picked one up, and turned it over in her hands.

"A lot of protein, meat seems to be even natural? Wow, almost a delicacy. Hopefully it's not made of Maliwans themselves," -here Zane grimaced, but Moze did not let him say anything and continued. "I trust no one. FL4K! Take a break from the ECHOnet for a minute."

The android's head, usually hidden under a hood, poked out from behind the high wooden back of a chair far off, which was large enough for the over two-meter-tall non-human to hide completely behind, save for their outstretched legs. The ECHO device in their hands flickered, but it was impossible to see what exactly they were doing. FL4K, though not a human, but from active communication with the latter, has formed some sort of "personality", and friends even caught themselves sometimes thinking that in the "face" with a single eye, some emotion can be read. The eye was half-closed now, and the warm-blooded might have seen discontent or even contempt in it. Who wants to be disturbed after all?

"Be a friend, check the contents. I know you've got new filters, a gas analyzer, and something else installed—" The robot didn't respond. "Please, do I often ask you to do something? Just tell me if we'll die if we ate it.”

"You don't often. But Zane is with you, and I know him, and he owes me a favor."

"Since when have you been so vindictive?" the operative pouted.

"I by definition can't be vindictive, my memory device remembers everything without exception, good and bad, and I don't like when I have unfinished business, it distracts from the primary goals and objectives'" the robot said dispassionately from their seat.

Amara suddenly remembered when she had heard this peculiar intonation: incredibly, but it meant that an artificial brain in an artificial body was too lazy to engage in such a low-priority goal. They must have been really engrossed in something so interesting that saw people as annoying flies, and in this particular case, Amara couldn't figure out what exactly might have contributed to it.

"Well, if you want we can choose not to feed Zane today?" ignoring the fact that the instantly outraged operative was standing just a meter away from her, Moze offered cheerfully.

"I agree," the hunter replied without hesitation.

Zane opened and closed his mouth, just like those poor fishes from Pandora. The Android finally got up with a click of their limbs and went over to their friends, uncapping the contents of an offered can with a hideous bone knife. But before any inspection on the can’s contents can be made, Mr. Chew who had just been dozing at the feet of his iron leader, perhaps alerted by the sounds of opening the can or the smell of its contents, released a long tongue, the tip of which were hard cartilage hooks, snatched the can from FL4K's four-fingered hand, and, with a single chomp, happily chewed it whole. Even though he was a completely tame skag, trained to eat the freshest, still terrified meat of the Crimson Raiders' enemies, and capable of obeying some commands, there are certain primal things that are forever embedded by nature in his small brain. It happened so fast that for a couple of seconds the vault hunters were unable to process what happened.

Zane was the first to chuckle like an old crow, and then he spoke in a voice that was no longer displeased.

"On the one hand, the skags eat whatever they find...but on the other hand, he chewed it with such gusto that I probably won't refuse it either, no matter what's inside," he spread his hands and glanced at Moze, hinting that he would somehow remember what she said to him. "There is a nice place in the yard, I suggest that we move there. Fresh air, nice view and all that, not much broken glass and concrete shards, burning doesn't really stink either. A damn resort!"

Zane was referring to the small garden with tacky golden fountains depicting Pandoran psychos pirouetting in all their glory. Joey definitely had specific tastes, realization of which unhindered by an obscene amount of money, thanks to the eridium business. With the onset of the evening, a pleasant sweet scent wafted in the air — FL4K, as the most experienced in terms of nature and the dangers lurking in it, said that it was the night flowers that were that were starting to bloom, and there was no danger of any poisoning. In the garden were stout stone braziers, some of which still had glowing embers, and benches placed around them to sit on while getting warmed. Zane proposed sitting by the braziers for warmth, and with temperatures beginning to drop as the evening advanced, and everyone who was made of flesh and blood being unprepared for it starting to feel the chill, there were no objections.

The vault hunters brought no food supplies from Sanctuary III, relying on Maurice’s claim that destroying the cartel was a mission that will take no more than half a day at most. The mentioned robot friend didn't react at all, Broodles was sitting on their lap, all her legs dangling from their lap as they were very busy scratching her somewhere under the shell, and she was clicking her mandibles in joy (or whatever it was on her "face"). One could even envy the little spiderant.

Moze and Amara looked at each other for a second, clearly thinking the same thing — or so it seemed to Amara, and she asked:

"So what do you suggest? Carry you on our hands to the capsule? Or to make you a nest out of our clothes, or to take the mattresses from Ava when we come back?"

Everyone knew that Ava was under suspicion of stealing mattresses from the warehouse, but she wouldn't let anyone into her room to check. BALEX didn't give her away either, and didn't even unlock the door, despite the orders. The young siren might well have done something in response to the invasion, but the adults were still too exhausted after what had happened at the Great Vault, and no one was eager to cross the path of a teenager with supernatural powers and a difficult personality who has apparently made friends with the ship's AI: it could have consequences for everyone.

"No, no, it's much easier! Have you seen the bedrooms here? Just looking at it makes you want to sleep for a week, and I suggest that you tell Sanctuary that the local jungle is dark and full of horrors, and that there is no point in returning to the capsule at night!"

"Easier? Are you serious?" Amara asked, genuinely surprised. She was trying to figure out if Zane was being sincere, or if he was guessing about her and Moze or-or-or...

"Of course! I'm certainly good at my job, but don't forget that I'm even older than Wainwright, although I don't look like it," Zane winked at her, although it was more like a grimace of pain and looked distorted by the operative's lack of a second eye. He stooped down to a small barrel on the ground — which he had also found in the cellar, and decided that whatever it was, it would not kill his hardened body either, and it would be a sin not to celebrate their small victory. Amara once again refused the liquid of questionable origin, Moze followed suit, pointing to her canteen, the contents of which were not known to anyone at all.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Moxxi and Ellie are already on edge without us, and they won't be happy about our delay," Moze said seriously, crossing her legs. "But if you really think you're ready to try their patience, go ahead." She shrugged and looked back at Amara, her gaze lingering for a few seconds. Zane was dead serious. As she listened to him first reporting to Maurice to find out if it was really possible to take both the Villa and the planet for the Raiders, and then generating arguments for a sleepy Moxxi, thoughts raced through her head.

Amara too had her mind filled with thoughts of her own. The offer to sleep on something relatively more luxurious than usual was truly awesome. She was already used to Sanctuary III and happy with her home, but at the same time she also missed her apartment on Partali, where there was no noise of engines, no rattle of iron in the steel bowels, no eternal conversations or footsteps. However, she and everyone else had things to do. The devastation that the Calypso twins had left behind was not inconsiderable, and the sense of responsibility that Amara had developed over the years was making itself felt. “But…” She looked from the embers to Moze, who was sitting across from her, making faces at the focused operative. Moze noticed and winked back. It was so rare to get a chance to be together without someone else's footsteps constantly coming through the door, or worry about being discovered. Amara also knew that it was stupid to hide from everyone, but for now, she wanted to understand how serious what they had between them was; and if so, maybe they can take the next step to something bigger.

In short, if Zane convinces Moxxi, it's worth taking the chance. And Zane, a hard-nosed, sharp-tongued man would definitely be able to talk her into it.

"How about you tell me what you think about me and my disobedience to prepare the capsule for departure in the night when we get back? I'm ready to listen to a gorgeous lady like you endlessly, I'm sure we'll come to an agreement," now his flattery and charisma generator was working at its full.

Moxxi's distorted sigh could be heard over the speaker of his ECHO device.

"All right, sugar. But you're going to talk to Ellie, 'cause I can never keep you in line" and she hung up without saying good-bye.

Zane's face showed that he was damn glad that the conversation was over and he'd gotten his way, but the twitching corner of his mouth told everyone that he was terrified of having to talk to Ellie. They never really got along, and his charisma almost never worked on the mechanic girl, unlike her mother.

"I won," he said to his companions, uncertainly, as if they were unaware of everything that just transpired, but he quickly shifted gears and began to chatter. "My bedroom is the closest to the exit In case of emergency evacuation! And it's closer to the kitchen, where there's still enough food in the refrigerator, and sometimes I can't sleep, and I read over...tea.”

Moze gave a whistle. “Don't be so nervous, it's bad for your blood vessels. And if Ellie breaks something on you, we will surely bring you back to your senses."

Amara made the decision to leave before anyone else.

"By the way, FL4K," the gunner suddenly said to the android, and the other two human pairs of eyes turned to them. "What are you working so hard on today? You didn't talk much all day, and I sometimes confuse you for the furniture." She waved her hand in the direction of the ECHO device that they held in that hand which was not occupied by Broodles. The robot looked up at her and slowly leaned against the back of the stone bench.

"Reading," they said simply.

"Bullshit!" she was genuinely surprised with the answer. "You've worked in the archives all your life...are you reading books now?"

"Yes, by the way," said Zane, who had resumed his seat and filled his glass with wine. "So you don't download them to your memory, but read them directly? With the one eye? What's the point?"

While Amara listened to the ensuing conversation, she gathered up all her weapons and opened the map that Maurice had previously given them in her ECHO. The house and its grounds were so large that she hasn't been able to get around them during the day, and without visual landmarks, the map didn't make much sense right now.

FL4K spoke again.

"Yes. I could load them into my memory and figure out main thesis for understanding, but I prefer to see the words in front of me and analyze them through the prism of communicating with you—" their speech was completely unperturbed as they usually were most of the time, adding to the absurdity was the spiderant’s constant clicking on their lap, Amara had met many strange people, and the android was proving once again that they definitely were one of them. "I analyze the meaning of each phrase and begin to understand people much better. You are chaos."

"I-I-I don't understand anything, but I hope your perception doesn't tell you to kill all humans? Like in the movies," Moze asked carefully, looking up at the robot — even sitting there, they still towered over her. "But the main thing in books is pleasure, and I hope, at least a little, but you get it?

"Depends on what you mean by that."

Amara finally rose from her seat, interrupting their conversation.

"Zane, I'm really very grateful to you, because I just realized how much I missed a simple human rest for more than five hours," siren said to the operative, who nodded with a smile. "I think I'll go find a place for myself, so if you need me," she looked at Moze and tapped the ECHO device on her belt. "You know how to find me."

She hoped Moze understood.

"Good night, Amara," FL4K said with a nod, and the others followed. Moze stared after her, because there was definitely a view.

***

Moze almost howled at how much she wanted to run after the siren, but there were rules to their game, and she couldn't let Amara down. When you are used to being direct, hiding something is really difficult, but trust is also difficult to earn, and this was her priority.

Moze noticed Amara pointing to her ECHO device, and remembered where her own device had been — next to her in the bag, so if there was any news from Amara, she would hear it. Now it was just waiting. It wasn't that her current company was unpleasant; she was always happy to spend time with friends. But the anticipation loomed over the conversation and it was difficult to concentrate; like how she was on her first day in the Ursa Corps — an excited recruit who does not know what to do with the overflowing excitement and desire to rush forward into battle.

She would never have thought that living people would ever be able to interest her. Amara was unbearably beautiful, having the physical form of a fighter and successfully maintaining it, and outside of the fight she sometimes talked like the heroine of a fiction novel and this sharp contrast of beauty and brawn spurred an interest in Moze, who in her life was used to the fact that developed muscles did not often translate to an equally developed brain. Amara was a siren, and who in this world wasn't interested in sirens? Children were told stories about them, and adults think of them as fantastical creatures. It dawned on Moze that an actual, living and breathing siren has fallen for her and those feelings found a response in her. It was a one in a million event to happen in one’s life, and it should not be missed.

While Zane was telling her about what his brothers have done to kill him over the years, Moze listened distractedly as she watched FL4K let their skag lick the remaining cans clean, which was both cute and disgusting. There were no skags on any of the worlds the gunner had ever visited, and she felt a rare sense of revulsion when she learned that they not only ate through their mouths, but also shat through it, and this was just the tip of the iceberg of the Pandoran fauna. When the hunters first encountered a rakk hive, Zane nearly threw up laughing at the associations. But running away from a huge and quite maneuverable creature for its size was not very fun, although it brought some variety to the routine of overcoming enemies.

At the end of his rather long story about the incredible persistence and ingenuity of his older brothers, Zane finally persuaded Moze to try that wine he found, and after a quarter of the liquid was left in a small barrel, after cans were licked and partially chewed, and after the sun was two-thirds hidden behind the horizon of a small satellite planet, Moze's ECHO device made a beep, indicating a new notification.

While FL4K talked about how their batteries worked, Moze shook the ECHO out of her travel bag. A message consisting only of coordinates shown on the small, shock-resistant screen. The gunner drank relatively little wine, but her head felt a little dizzy at that moment.

"What happened?" the robot was distracted by her, to Zane’s relief, interrupting their abstruse explanation.

"It's Amara," Moze replied, her mind already occupied by trying to get away. "Found some spare rooms. I think I'll go too, and I suggest you do the same if you still want to sleep it off."

Zane checked his watch and sighed.

"I guess you're right. Tomorrow at 0720 at the main entrance, and not a minute later.”

"I'm not the one who's been whining the most," Moze teased, turning around. She picked up her weapons and slung the bag with the parts removed from the robots over her shoulder. "See ya tomorrow!"

***

Zane and FL4K were alone, and the operative didn't have the energy to joke anymore, so they watched the sun go down in silence. At least Zane was watching, and it wasn't clear whether FL4K was looking at the sky or inside their code. The robot suddenly asked a rather unusual question:

"Do you feel anything when they're around? Together."

"What? What do you mean?" the relaxed Zane didn't understand the question at first, but when he did, he stared at his non-human comrade in surprise, his lips frozen in the shape of an "o".

"Rapid heartbeat, increased sweating. My sensors detect everything. Human excitement is overwhelming, like sitting on the trajectory of an impending thunderstorm when you look at them," FL4K lowered their eye to his four-fingered hands on their lap. "This chemistry is interesting to analyze," 

"You... You're implying—" Zane made strange hand gestures. "You seriously considered all these and made conclusions just like that?”

"Yes. And no. I was just asked not to tell. But since I told you, I hope you behave yourself around them. This is very important to Amara, and I sometimes want to make an amulet out of your long tongue myself."

***

**HELIOS FALLEN**

When those involved in the massive battle at Carnivora recovered from their wounds and rested for a while, a few civilians accompanied the hunters through the Burrows to the fallen Helios station which, even after all these years after the fall, still had a lot of good equipment that could be used or put to work. Tannis and Lilith decided that it would be useful to the Crimson Raiders. Their budget, even with the help of Amara and some other sponsors, remained relatively modest, and having spread to several planets where their headquarters were growing and needed support, the option of looting didn't sound so bad. The station has not belonged to anyone for a long time.

Except for its inhabitants.

Zane and a couple of other people were dismantling wall panels to get to the right console and safely disable the surgical laser installation so that nothing would burn out or short-circuit, and Moze listened to Tannis’ chatter, writing down in her ECHO a list of necessary things that it was desirable (but still necessary) to find on the station, which was actually like a small planet, with thousands of people who lived and worked in, with its own factories, laboratories, and other necessary structural units. 

Iron Bear was standing guard behind the people in auto mode. Fl4k, Amara, and the others have gone to inspect the neighboring rooms, and there was absolutely no sign that in next moments the vault hunters would be swept away by a wave robot bodies-whole, broken, noisy, still spitting fire and bullets from their weapons, loaders with their incredibly capacious batteries, which even after a decade continued to serve and did it effectively. Before anyone realized it, the walls began to burn, the remnants of the old coating peeling off in layers, exposing the metal; the equipment they wanted to take away started to warp from the heat, and the worst part was that the doors that could lead to a retreat from the medical unit were firmly jammed from the humidity and the sprouts brought by the soldiers of the New Pandora, as was made clear on the inspection that they conducted earlier.

The hot air stung Moze’s lungs, and she couldn't clearly understand if she's breathing or not, and her mind was racing with the idea of digistructing the Iron Bear back up into his module before nothing was left of him, and then herself, that is if the fire didn’t end her first.

She cared more about the Bear, because these mechs were a unique product of Vladof, they could fully replace a combat comrade, were powerful and had many other advantages, and this is why Moze wanted to get it at her disposal after her contract expired — so she could become a powerful mercenary unit, work for herself and forget about all the shitty contracts and the pointless corporate wars. Moze had dreamed of it; she didn't like being bossed around much. It took her too long to achieve her goal.

Now the Bear was still in auto mode, gradually falling apart under the onslaught of Hyperion loaders. Moze had never seen so many of them in one place in her life.

Fortunately, their comrades quickly responded and organized a retreat. For Moze, everything happened in a matter of moments, the fight was knee-jerk reaction to her, since dealing with ambushes was a norm in her job, but for the first time in a very, very long time everyone became complacent, making the amateur mistake of not scouting the territory in advance, and now there was trouble. The task which was supposed to be a routine courier mission quickly escalated into a firefight. 

She could feel her skin blistering as she watched out of the corner of her eye as Amara fought her way toward Zane with her ethereal fists. A second later, the Bear was safely hidden in the digistruct device, and now Moze was relying only on herself and her guns. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the huge bulk of a badass loader falling on Zane, and the operative got slapped in the face with one of its hot barrels. Zane seemed to have passed out before he could do anything at all. Moze hoped, defending her fallen friend, that it was really just a blackout and that he wouldn't have to deal with the resurrection station either. 

Digistructing living flesh was not much liked, too many nuances, too unstable technology, although Hyperion tried, and the least terrible thing about it was partial memory loss. But until now, anyone would be more willing to wrap themselves in bandages and band-aids and get pricked with painful regenerators than to be resurrected again. Moreover, there was a well-founded opinion that the older the body, the worse it tolerates not only resurrection, but also simpler process of teleportation.

Moze's vision was blurry from the heat, and her CoV rifle was jammed with overheating, and she was frantically reloading Torgue's revolver.

Before her eyes, Amara tore out a firmly bolted surgical table off the floor and threw it onto the crowd of mechanical skeletons, which vied with each other and spat bullets. “'Is there any limit to her power?” the thought flashed through the gunner's mind, and when she opened her eyes the next moment, she found that Amara has already picked up the unconscious Zane with the same ethereal arms, grabbed her across the body with the same, and as Fl4k screamed that he would deal with these stupid bastards, carried them away. It was the last thing Moze remembered before passing out.

She woke up on the cold metallic floor of the station. It was hard to open her eyes; the environment didn't want to be in focus. Her whole body ached terribly, she was shivering even as her skin was burnt with fire and hot air, and it sent an intense pain all over her body. It was still hard to breathe, but at least the air was cool now, if a little dusty and musty. Moze lay on her side as she slowly regained consciousness. She felt unbearably sick, no little thanks to the smell of rotten vegetation surrounding her. She wiggled her fingers and felt that each one was tightly wrapped in Anshin regenerator patches. Good.

A movement in the distance caught her attention, and she mustered all of her strength to focus her vision. Before her stretched a corridor that looked like every other corridor in the station, lit by dim emergency lights; Fl4k's back without their usual backpack on it; two people sitting against the wall — alive; Amara also sitting on the floor, and Zane's head on her lap.

At this moment, Moze realized that there was a ringing in her ears and all the surrounding sounds came to her as if cotton wool plugged up her ears, and she could not come to her senses, her eyes kept closing, she wanted to sleep for a bit longer. What the hell happened to her that made her feel like she's been hit by a truck? She didn't remember any explosions or anything more serious. She hasn't felt this bad for a long time.

Amara's voice seemed to come from a far distance:

"Are we going to bury him?"

Moze was alarmed and heard her pulse throbbing inside her head, the siren's voice sounded distant, making it impossible to tell if she was joking, and her mind was in a fog she still could not make out what was happening. 

"Amara, you stole my joke," the robot chuckled mechanically, seeming to dig through its backpack for something.

"Don't even think about it, you bastards, I'm too young and Moxxi hasn't agreed to marry me yet!" —the operative groggily moaned, listlessly throwing a bandaged hand over his forehead "Oh, Oh, be gentle, please!"

It was FL4K who unceremoniously stuck a syringe (also from Anshin) with a regenerator onto his side. They were also disliked, but this dislike was nothing compared to the digistruct station. Just one to three hours of agony from accelerated tissue and bone repair, and you're as good as new. Recovery is 99.9% and the only side effect is a terrible hunger at the end of the whole process. Survival was possible.

Moze winced, because it felt like she needed it, too, and she was willing to do anything to stop the pain and become a functioning human again. She hated it when her body didn't obey her.

Amara carefully shifted Zane's head onto her folded bag and stood up.

"I'll see how she's doing." The sound of Amara’s footsteps came to her as if she was underwater. Her eyes struggled to stay open. The gunner flinched when Amara stroked her forearm to get her attention. "Moze, are you with us? How are you feeling?"

She moved and opened her mouth to answer, her lips tried to form the words but there was no sound.

"Damn, you're hurt, too. FL4K, you may have overdone it a bit. Put it mildly. Give me another syringe, preferably two".

Amara kept her hand on her arm and drew circles on it with her thumb. It kept her from passing out, as did the deep voice of the owner of those very fingers, which made its way through her half-deaf ears.

A second later, Moze felt a horribly painful stab in her thigh, followed by another one. Hello, new pain.

Not all the civilians survived the skirmish. They only made it by leaving with Amara and Fl4k, who didn't face any enemies. The others were unlucky; they didn't have good enough equipment for combat. The feedback on the vault hunters failed mission to acquire any new equipment having lost several people had yet to be heard from Lilith. The other survivors have already been sent through the teleport station to Sanctuary and only two more people were waiting for their turn. Teleporting with the wounded was unwise, so the vault hunters would spend the next couple of hours in the dusty corridor they were in.

Half an hour after the injections, Moze was no longer feeling sleepy, mostly because the drowsiness was driven away by a gradually increasing dull, concentrated pain, and perhaps also because of the overly cheerful chatter of the operative, who took it upon himself to share all the horrific situations in which he almost said goodbye to life, kept her awake.

FL4K and their jabber Meat Thief left to check the area where the explosion had cut them off from the Hyperion robots — now Moze knew that she had been concussed by the android's efforts to push back, and now they were on duty a little further away down the corridor.0 Amara was constantly walking between the two injured people: in addition to a slight concussion and burns, Zane had a broken arm, and every now and then, through his whines, she checked how properly the bones were growing together.

Moze had noticed long ago that siren had always had a great empathy, not only for people, but also for animals and even small robots. When she first met Amara, who practically tore up bandits with bare hands, it was impossible to imagine her being capable of such. It was clear why she became a crime fighter at her home planet. She sometimes found herself thinking that Amara had so much charisma that even Lilith was incomparable to her. It was pleasant to listen to her, pleasant to watch — and there definitely was something to watch. Moze liked people in good physical shape, but Amara was like that not only for show, she was really strong and could easily compete in close combat with their mutual friend Brick, who could crush almost any human skull with his bare hand.

Another touch brought the gunner back to reality, and the throbbing pain returned. Something was wrong inside her body even as it was recovering, twisting her guts into knots, it seemed. Beads of sweat broke out of her skin. She wasn't wearing her jacket, but it was draper over her to protect from the drafts.

She felt Amara take her hand in both of hers. Through the bandages and unpleasant tingling of the skin, the touch still felt nice, she willed herself to not to think about the last stage of regeneration: when the burnt skin began to itch, then the old skin peels off and a brutal hunger will soon be felt.

***

**VILLA ULTRAVIOLET**

Through the spacious living room, Moze walked into the hall. The huge doors were slightly askew on their hinges, bullet holes riddled its surface. The tasteless fountain was almost completely intact (except for the mask, which now lay sadly on the floor, crumpled by someone's foot). She looked up the huge staircase that led to the top. It seems that Zane wanted to take a room there somewhere, and there wasn't much point in going up — there was the most devastation, and some repairs were going on before they arrived. The gunner checked the coordinates again, but the area was very large and each wing had its own layout, which was confusing.

There was a place in the house she couldn't get into earlier, because the Bear was too large to pass through the door during the time when the hunters were fighting off the mercenaries — that's where the tempting numbers led. It was awkward for her to admit that she was impatient, as if she were a teenager with raging hormones, which was true to some extent: she spent her teenage years spending all her energy on training and learning the military craft. Suddenly, the late first love that befell her seemed to start the whole mechanism anew. At least that's how it felt.

At home there were strict conditions. Her father and mother were also of military stock, they constantly moved from place to place, and did not live anywhere for a long time, except when Moze was just born. Then they parted. It was hard for the mother to get along with such a daughter, and it was easier for the father to raise a successor. Then she and her father separated and stopped maintaining contact. In fact, Moze was raised by endless wars, which taught that nothing lasts forever, and if you get too attached to people, it can go sideways, so she chose Iron Bear as a friend. Then Amara happened.

She continued to walk through the corridors with the familiar furniture, silent save for the sound of the tapping of her shoes, and the rattle of her guns, and clasps. This led into the green courtyard — a pleasant place, if not for the remainders of today's events and empty shell casings that littered the ground. The sun sank lower below the horizon, and the first bright stars began to appear in the sky, winking in and out of sight as clouds drifted past. 

Across the courtyard was another building, which was almost completely hidden in greenery such that in the semi-darkness it could not be seen even despite it being similarly sized, and corresponded to the rest of the luxurious house in features. It's there.

She was met by two front doors, but when she opened the holographic map provided by their saurian employer, it was clear that it didn't matter which one to enter, since they both led to a single hall. The gunner decided that it would not be superfluous to leave the Bear at the entrance for the night in automatic mode. Just in case someone decided to visit them in the middle of the night, in which case she would get a notification from the motion sensor and camera.

Pressing a button on the clock made the giant mech go into target detection mode in a second, and Moze checked to see if it had enough fuel in its tank for five or six hours at a time. It will do.

"Good night, my friend, be sure to tell me if anyone decides to skip by, " she patted her comrade on the rail gun, the core of which flickered, always ready to fire at any moment, and she disappeared through the heavy wooden door leading inside the house.

Surprisingly, the room was the most pristine she'd seen in a day, and the interior was no different from the main house. Without pausing, she walked along the corridor, where purple powder within flasks and without them was shimmering on all horizontal surfaces, until the end, where she was met by a door that obviously led to the right room. There was a dim sliver of light under it, and she went inside without knocking to see that there was no one inside.

There were a couple of lamps standing on either side of the huge bed, and the bed itself which was under an open canopy and neatly tucked in, showed no sign of being disturbed. Moze had never slept in a bed like this in her life, even the ones in Jakobs' summer house wasn't that rich — at least not the ones for guests.

Looking around, Moze saw a light coming from under one of the doors leading into another area, she listened and caught the sound of running water over the rustle of waterfalls from the outside. The logical conclusion was that this was the bathroom, and Amara was there.

She was again overcome by a wave of impatience, and she began to divest herself of unnecessary things and clothes. On one of the chairs that lined the wall, there were the siren's spiked vest, jeans folded, similarly spiked boots on the floor, and a weapon neatly propped up next to it. Amara loved Vladof, and it hurt Moze just a little. She'd known about her girlfriend's addiction to the brand almost from the moment they met, and on bad days, thoughts rolled over her, what if Amara considered her to be the same ideal product of a military machine, which can be easily replaced with a new one as soon as it broke down? Well, of course not. After Darzaran Bay, this wasn't the worst thing that came to mind, but fortunately, it didn't happen often, especially recently.

She pushed those ugly thoughts away — there was nothing else left to her after leaving the corporation except for moral damage and an ugly tattoo. Amara just likes good fast guns. And her.

Moze got rid of her things almost carelessly, because there was nothing to break and she didn't really care, especially now. She kept only her trousers and undershirt on.

The room beyond the door was indeed a bathroom, and Amara was there, at the end of an obscenely large room in pink, gold, and black, in a tub too big for one person — leaning her head back against the side, tattoos that gave off a steady glow at any time of the day or night glistening and forming strange shapes under the water, eyes closed — maybe she was dozing, she wondered.

Smiling to herself, Moze took a few long strides across the room and sat down on the mat next to the tub. At the light touch on her shoulder, Amara calmly opened her eyes and looked at her with large purple eyes.

"Hi," the siren smiled, and sat up without hesitation, baring her chest over the water. Not that there was ever any shyness between them, even at the beginning of their relations.

"I see you missed me?" the gunner folded her hands on the edge of the tub and rested her chin on them. She will stop admiring Amara only in the next life, if there was one. Maybe even then she would still feel the same way for that perfect body and attractive mind.

"If you have any suggestions, I'm willing to listen." Moze’s desire was tweaked to new heights whenever the siren began to speak in her native language - especially in bed; she did not understand a word, and relied only on her own feelings and ideas about what she heard. 

"Well, I heard from you that you are very tired, so why don't you go to bed?" Moze wouldn't be herself if she didn't make a mockery of it. "We should get up early in the morning and all that".

Amara took her face in her wet hands. "Do you think I can sleep when you're near? I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

And she kissed her, as she hadn't kissed in a long time, because there were always other people's eyes and the pressure of haste. And on Sanctuary, they just wanted to switch off to rest as soon as they reached their cabins, the work of the vault hunter is very tedious.

Amara finally felt Moze pull away from her. The gunner, holding on to the edge of the tub, leaned back slightly and licked her wet lips contentedly, gazing at the siren from behind her disheveled bangs.

"I'm only too happy to hear such threats from you. Now move over." She said breathily

She got on her feet and took off the remaining clothes she had - her undershirt and nothing more on top, and then her pants and underwear ending up in a pile by the tub. All that was left on her were her dog tags that hung from a chain and a waterproof watch combined with the Iron Bear digital device. Amara knew that she never took these things off under any threat. You never know when your body will have to be identified, and you can never guess when your sixteen-ton battle friend will be needed.

Moze stepped over the edge and into the hot water, sat down opposite Amara, stretching her legs out in her direction, and with a satisfied groan sank into the water up to her neck, legs not even reaching the other side. The siren herself also leaned back, watching. Such a bath did not compare with the showers on Sanctuary, which gave out hot steam instead of water, or even with the bathrooms at Jakobs’ place. Amara thought back to her home: after all, some aspects of the good life sometimes made you miss them.

Moze began to wash her face — there were new unmarked bottles on the edge of the tub and a new bar of soap, which was soon put to use. The place was complete with all the necessary toiletries, as well as fresh towels. Amara found them all neatly kept, ready for when there where guests to be entertained. She took these out for them. The illusion of habitability in the villa was too good. The temptation to stay here longer grew by the minute, but... At least not right now, there's other work to do, and they might be able to get back here later if the current command decides to leave the planet at the disposal of the Raiders.

She stared at the scars on Moze's arms and body — once they had had the rare chance to spend more time together, and while they waited for sleep to come, they told each other how they earned their marks. Moze had the biggest ones from an accident while controlling the Iron Bear — a rocket hit him in the side, and one side was torn apart while she was still inside. The rest were from bullets fights. And on the side of her head, almost imperceptibly, a faint burn from the incident in the Veins of Helios a few months ago bulged under her short hair.

Amara almost snorted at her own thoughts, remembering that in addition to the scars she was somewhat proud of, there was also the scar from the bite of Pippie, their ship's grog, inherited from the swamp witch. Once he was very angry that the team did not give him a treat during breakfast, he made an attempt to chew off Moze's shin, and it was not an unsuccessful attempt; they still had to stitch her shin back up anyway. Pippie didn't like her at all, and was always breaking things in her room if she happened to leave it unlocked, and the other residents of Sanctuary III weren't immune to his mischief either, and cursed were the days when little stubborn grog got to Fl4k's room and started digging there. Tannis, too, had been so "lucky" that she had solved the problem completely by changing the sensor settings on the sick bay door to keep small animals, robots, and children under the age of twenty-one out of it. Or people whose IQ was significantly lower than her own. There were times when dealing with Tannis was difficult.

Moze dived into the water to wash the foam off her face, and then came up again, bringing Amara back to reality. Without the dark spots around her eyes and war paint, she looked cute and much younger than her age. She wasn't even thirty, right? In the military and people associated with the space fleet, the idea of age was distorted over time. Flights, different flow of time and processes in the body, and then you gradually stop understanding how much you are getting older. Amara perfectly understood the purpose of the watch on her wrist, but she never paid attention to the time herself.

The effect was enhanced by her overall leanness, and compact build, which Amara noticed now and then. The siren was used to see most of the people around her as big and bulky, ready to kick asses with bare fists if they have no guns (and in general wars aren't for wimps), but Moze could perfectly stand up for herself even with her physique being no bigger than that of a teenager: Moze was the smallest not only in their team, but in the Sanctuary as a whole and was barely above Ava. And it was terribly attractive — Amara was ashamed to admit that sometimes it is very difficult to keep her hands to herself and not to—

"You're looking like you're about to do something again," Moze said, brushing her damp hair back with her hand. "And you never say what's on your mind."

"What if I tell you?" Amara couldn't have avoided the conversation if she'd wanted to, and she probably shouldn't have delayed the obvious any longer. She just has to figure out what to say, huh.

"Can't promise anything," Moze winked to her and moved closer with obvious intent. Amara let her sit on her lap and reached for another long kiss.

"You know," Amara said, pausing to catch her breath and collect her thoughts. "I'm so used to having anyone at home who could be mine if I winked at them. It doesn't work that well with you, and I goddamn love it. I love challenges. Love you. I don't want to leave your side for a second, at least not during this period of existence."

The gunner stared at her for a moment in surprised incomprehension, but her expression changed to a familiar slightly crooked grin.

"You and I have absolutely no chance of living to a happy old age, if I understand what you're driving at."

She leaned back a little, giving the siren a wonderful view of herself — so close that Amara could see every small scar, the jagged tan spots where her body wasn't covered by clothing, the tattoo of an army knife silhouetted under her left breast in a single ornate line.

"But," Moze continued, meeting Amara's gaze. "I see you like vaults and the adventurous life, I love them. It sometimes gets me a lot of money, and I'm ready to do this until I get tired of it. Or until I really die. If you feel the same way, I'll stay with you as long as I can. I love you very much too, Amara, you changed me and my routine life for the better," Moze spoke so beautifully about completely ordinary things — in a way that only she could, simply and honestly.

"I'm so glad you say that," Amara breathed, placing both hands on her partner's thighs. "Come here."

***

"Damn, it’s so long! Are you really comfortable with them?" Moze sat behind her, washing the foam from Amara's brightly colored hair, which hung loosely over her shoulder blades.

"I'm used to it. In recent years, I had to do a lot of interviews and appear on camera at home, and had to look good not only in terms of physical appearance", this was absolutely true. Short hair never aroused her enthusiasm, and having discovered the world of hair colors, makeup, and the Quick-Change machines, Amara learned how to become even more spectacular.

Moze snorted.

"Well, yeah, princess, you don't have such a problem as a terribly small cabin with a lot of levers and protruding hardware."

"You're jealous, aren't you?" the siren looked over her shoulder at her and she teased. "I'm sure it'll suit you, too, so let's stick you in the Quick-Change when we get back to the ship and see?"

"Well, no, I actually have an image too, and I should be feared and respected," — the shooter replied jokingly.

"Oh, Yes, I'd be afraid too if I was threatened from below, I think FL4K and Brick are the most afraid of you."

"God, Amara! Don't mention men when you and I are naked, let alone other people's men," she laughed, slapping the siren on the back to make her sit up straight and let her finish.

They sat for a while longer, talking about everything and nothing, until the water in the huge tub was once again cold. Instead of a window, the room had a lighted stained glass window, and without a clock, it was completely unclear what time it was, but it was absolutely certain that night had already laid claim on this small planet. Amara didn't ask to look at her watch, because she didn't really care and didn't want to ruin the moment.

"I think I've had enough already," Moze squeezed the water out of her short hair and stepped from the bathtub to the floor, where a small rug lay.

"There are bathrobes and towels," Amara said as the gunner walked over to a table where a stack of identical-looking fluffy white towels lay in a pile. Moze shrugged and picked up a large soft towel. She picked up her things left on the floor and turned to her.

"I'm going to go to my room from here, it's too stuffy to dry properly," and winked at Amara, who was still sitting where she was, and went out.

Amara watched her body glisten with water and envied herself. After a couple of minutes, she drained the water, got out, and threw a long, comfortable robe over her shoulders and began to dry her thick, long hair with its hood.

While she was doing this, the large mirror over the sink began to defog, and she couldn't help but admire the contrast between her dark skin and the snow-white material. Amara has never hidden the fact that she loves admiring herself and her appearance, and always tried to make an impression.

When she went into the bedroom, there was no one there, but directly opposite was a stained glass door that opened to a wide balcony that hung over a precipice with waterfalls, and Moze was standing by its railing, cooling off. The siren took this opportunity to stare at her figure, which was covered by black sports underwear and the same shirt she had on before.

Amara closed the distance to her and hugged her tightly from behind, pressing her lips to her neck with her short hair still wet from the bath. Mine. The gunner chuckled at the gesture and put her cool hands on top of hers.

"Look how well you can see the main entrance, they must have seen us this morning from the very beginning," Moze said, pointing across the chasm, where the mountain slopes with vegetation, the main gate and the lighted driveway where their approach really was clearly visible. The vault hunters had been careless from the start, but currently Amara was only concerned with one thing, and it wasn't the events of the day or what might be happening outside of where they were now. Moze was running a diversion.

"Uh-huh," the siren replied, not looking up from covering her shoulders with kisses.

"What if one of our friends checks the area before night and decides to look right here, where the lights are on? And sees what you’re doing?" she didn't even try to sound serious.

"Let them watch," Amara breathed, and opened the lock of her arms around her waist, letting her hands slide under the thin fabric and slide higher, covering Moze's small breasts, which made her give a small exclamation of pleasure. Amara was aware that while she was moving in the right direction, she was not the one who set the mood of the evening.

"Right, you're a star and you like other people's eyes, " Moze said, arching her back to be closer to the palms of her hands.

"M-m-m-m, exactly."

"Well, I'm cold enough, so let's go inside if you don't want to freeze your butt off."

The siren's blood was just starting to boil, and it was unlikely that anything would have made her stop and move anywhere, but nevertheless, Moze twisted out of her hands and disappeared through the door, leaving her alone with her excitement.

The gunner landed on the bed with a thump and stretched out on the softest satin coverlet of warm orange hue, in the light of two dim lamps on either side of the bed. The mattress was soft, too soft for her simple soldier's taste, but that was fine. She rolled onto her back and caught a glimpse of something familiar-another glass jar of eridium dust sitting on the nightstand. God, there's so much of this stuff in this house, it's scary to imagine how much it was produced and sold. Moze reached out and picked it up, lifting it above her. The smallest particles of the mineral literally glowed from within, shimmered as they were alive. If it hadn't been for the double glass, she would have felt its warmth.

Moze was looking forward to this evening, her shoulders still felt Amara’s lips where she planted her kisses, and she wanted more right now, at this moment. Amara was closing the door to the balcony to protect them from the night chill and the soft but Intrusive endless noise of waterfalls, and was covering the windows with heavy curtains that were slightly dusty, and when she turned around, she saw her friend interested in the purple dust.

"What, you want to try it?" there was a hint of mockery in Amara's voice.

"Pfft, of course not," Moze spread her arms and stared at the ceiling. "But I've been looking at this shit for a long time, the cartel managed to partially legalize it in some places to make bath salts and stuff with it, and I even grabbed souvenirs from Gehenna while I could, everyone just doesn't care if it's legal there. But actually yeah, I do wanna try, but not today. Am I so obvious?"

Amara also sat down on the bed, tucking her legs under her, and reached out to take the jar from the gunner's hand and take a closer look at the contents. Being a siren, she immediately felt that the ground mineral was alive and filled with energy.

Eridium was originally from Pandora, and it hadn't even been a couple of decades since it was designated as a biocatalyst of sirens' abilities, but even before it became known, the crafty armorers tried to use it in their technologies for a similar purpose. People liked such weapons.

It was later that the sirens discovered eridium, and it was almost by accident. According to the stories told by Tannis and Lilith, almost everyone involved in the Crimson Raiders knew about a girl named Angel, who was so drugged with this substance that she died shortly after the rescue. Some people knew that for some reason Maya could not use it to boost her abilities: her body rejected it. And very few people knew that Lilith herself had a mild form of addiction due to the fact that several times she had to absorb eridium in huge quantities.

When people were sufficiently familiar with the mineral, the Eridium Cartel experimented and found out that even ordinary mortals could get something out of it for themselves. By purifying it of slag and foreign substances — an expensive and long process — they had a light drug of natural origin on their hands. Judging by the stories, the high was worth it, and the business began to flourish. From this, conflicts began to arise, one of which the hunters were involved with today.

"Yes, Maurice said in the briefing that for ordinary people, this thing is quite safe and you will have to try hard to get hooked. But, my friend, are you now insinuating that you just don't have enough thrills with me?" the question was mocking, and Amara wasn't judging her, just interested in the motivation.

"But at least it's not the synthetic shit we sometimes dabbled in on the military service. Haven't you ever smoked pot or something? The effect should be the same, plus the sensations are really sharp, and then you sleep like after a march over rough terrain," Moze turned on her side, and leaning on one hand, the other stroked Amara's bare knee with her fingers. "But just you will be enough for me today."

The siren chuckled and reached out to stroke her friend's hair, tucking her still-wet long bangs behind her ear.

"Oh, I'm flattered that you're giving me a chance."

"Amara, babe. You have no idea how much I want to have great sex with you," she paused to stretch and sit. "And then sleep until Zane runs into my Bear at the door and starts yelling that we've overslept. Plus, I'm very grateful that you didn't twist my arms behind my back and kick my ass for just thinking about eridium."

At one point, Moze felt a little awkward, like a child was trying to persuade an adult to try some adult things, but the only difference was there were no children here. But Amara gave her a rare but gorgeous smile - Moze always liked the way her fangs stick out a little, and was sorry that she was usually too serious to smile. Amara then bowed her head, saying something that was a little scary and just as hot:

"Now I want to see what happens to you even more."

"And... Oh, what about you then?"

"I can't say anything, except that eridium probably won't affect me like you, I'm a siren, and maybe only my etheric fists will hurt more," and indeed, looking at the mostly sad experience of sirens handling eridium poorly, she herself preferred to rely on her physical strength in addition to her innate abilities. So far, she had managed to successfully survive.

"I'd say you could do it with the rest of your hands, but I guess we'll need more time than we need on a normal night, even with all our efforts," and she reached over to put the jar back on the table, she deliberately moved as close to Amara as possible, but she didn't allow herself to be kissed, despite the obvious attempt.

"Oooh, you give me some very interesting ideas for the future, I like it."

If Moze had been standing, her knees would have buckled from the images in her already raging Inferno of fantasy. Once again, she sprawled on the bed, propped up on one of the huge soft pillows, looking up at the ceiling. Amara joined her, snuggling up to her side and burying her face in her neck, and as she settled more comfortably, and gunner felt the first light kiss, followed by another and another, on her shoulder, on her neck, and then behind her earlobe. Amara slid her hand over her torso to find her palm and intertwine their fingers. Despite her desire, she could have prolonged the pleasure for a long time.

"You're so nice when you're not being sarcastic. Is this always the case with you, or is it just with me? Are you speechless at my beauty? Or do you feel that one wrong word and I'll break you and do whatever I want all night?" Amara whispered these questions in her ear between kisses and felt Moze's chest rise and her body tense under her hand.

"If you keep this up, I-I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll have to forget about dry underwear."

Moze felt a rush of hot air on her neck — Amara laughed almost inaudibly and untangled her fingers from her palm, placing them on her belly and running them all the way down.

"As if it's something bad," Amara stroked the inside of her thigh and lightly fingered the elastic band of her underwear. "You never wear anything under your shirt anyway. You know, it's distracting sometimes. Or do you do it on purpose?"

"Of course the show's just for you, " the gunner brought her legs together as she felt fingers begin to insistently stroke her right through the fabric. "Mmm, you know, you're right, fuck the clothes."

Moze got up abruptly and hastily stripped off her t-shirt and shorts, tossing them on the bedside table. She turned around and saw Amara looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Nice view, isn't it?" Moze slapped her bare buttock and grinned broadly. The buttocks were great. "Come on, now it's your turn."

With a 'Hmph', Amara sat up and pulled the robe off her beautiful broad shoulders, and the dim light of the lamps supplemented the faint glow of the blue tattoos covering the left half of her body from the head to the tips of her toes. She was aware that when Moze first saw two real sirens at once, she was wondering what these tattoos were like, whether they felt different, and on closer acquaintance it turned out that they were not at all different, just ordinary skin. Moreover, even wounds and scratches, which, like all people, bled with ordinary red blood, eventually healed without a trace and the same blue, slightly shimmering magical pigment returned to them.

On one of the first nights Moze sneaked in her room to sleep together, she called her arm a cool night light and was banned from sleepovers for the next week. It was both funny and sad, but Amara thawed out quickly enough, and Moze just as quickly got used to such an unusual detail, until she found it hot as hell.

Moze snapped out of her memory as she moved closer and sat between her knees. She reached out and put her hand on Amara's chest, touching the small metal ring with the thumb.

"Looks good on you."

"Of course it does. Amara looked down at her, already knowing what her next move would be.

A second hand slid from her knee to her hip, and the fingers on her chest were replaced by soft lips. She was once again convinced that no matter what, she wasn't exactly setting the pace today. Moze had always been very impatient, and it showed when it came to sex. She always preferred words to action, and just now Amara felt the familiar fingers sink into her wet warmth. Amara wanted to say something about hurrying too much and needing some more kisses and words, but Moze had already found the right spot and there were no decent thoughts left in her head. It was already hard to resist, and as she settled more comfortably on the soft mattress, she began to think about pleasant things as well as enjoy them.

She will still have a chance to win back and torment her little gunner for as long as possible.

***

Her internal clock woke Amara early in the morning. She could tell it was morning by the barely visible triangle of dawn that was just beginning to break through the curtains that were loosely drawn at the bottom, but otherwise the room was almost dark, and only a faint blue light showed Amara's hand lying on top of the bedspread.

It took her a moment to realize where she was and what was happening, but the next moment she remembered the events of the previous day. Turning her head gently, Moze was also there, wrapped in another blanket and lying with her back turned to her: a quiet, familiar clicking and a dim light on her side made it clear that she, too, was awake and probably looking for something or playing something on her ECHO.

Amara stared at the back of her head, thinking that she must have really fallen in love again, and at the moment she really wanted to, if not go live in some remote place where they could be alone, then at least fight alongside each other as much as possible. This, at least, will definitely be more fun as long as the feelings are mutual. She lay there for a while, turning her thoughts over in her head, then quietly, so that Moze wouldn't notice, she moved closer and hugged her, pulling her closer.

"Good morning," she rubbed her face against the warm skin, inhaling its scent. Undoubtedly, it's nice to wake up next to another person.

Without turning around, Moze took her hand and placed it on her chest.

"It's definitely a good morning now," Moze giggled, and after a few seconds, turned to face the siren as she turned on the bedside lamp. In the light, Moze looked rather exhausted, although there was more than enough time to have rest. It seems that it was more than she could manage between the endless stream of errands for the Raiders. Amara stroked her cheek with the back of her hand, brushing her disheveled hair back from her face.

Moze turned off the ECHO she'd been holding in her hand before getting up and getting dressed.

Amara sat up too, clutching the blanket to the chest.

"You don't look well, are you sure you're alright?" she ran her fingers through her tangled hair and began to tie it into a thick braid, keeping her eyes on Moze, trying to catch something — she didn't know what exactly — in her movements.

"You don't look like a morning flower either," Moze snorted, pulling on her pants in one motion. "It's just the look on my face when I can't close up in Quick-Change right after my morning shower. You'll have to put up with me like this."

"You know what happens in Sanctuary to people who don't feel well, don't you?" Amara tried to keep the worry out of her voice, and hoped the question wasn't too serious.

"Tannis's checkup isn't the worst thing I've ever been through," Moze said with a laugh, and Amara finally put aside her worry and decided that everything was fine. Maybe she just didn't get enough sleep or something, but at least it wasn't a nightmare. After the nightmares, she's in a bad mood for the next twenty-four hours.

"How long are you gonna lag?" Moze came back from the bathroom a few minutes later and stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed.

Amara, lost in thought, looked up from tying her shoelaces — the gunner was already fully prepared, and even the helmet hid her disheveled hair:

"I'm sorry, but I'm just an ordinary person who didn't take an army speed dress course," she jokingly waved, and continued to dress herself up properly.

"It's not even about me, I'll bet that... Oh, there's no need to bet," their ECHO devices made different notification sounds almost simultaneously. "Do you think he's too old to have healthy sleep? Is it senile insomnia?"

"Looks like it," Amara looked up from what she was doing, picked up her device, and checked her watch — it was just after seven o'clock on Pandora, and from the message that came in, Zane was already waiting for them.

Moze snorted, and her fingers darted across the holographic keyboard in a sarcastic response.

"Come on, let's go before he gets here, or you'll be explaining what we're both doing here."

In the light of the rising sun, the garden in which the cottage stood was a much sadder sight: many of the trees and shrubs were stripped and broken, the stone railing, floor, and walls were pitted with bullet holes, and the ground was dark with dried blood and oil stains. She and Amara walked back to the hall in silence, the silence wasn't tense, and Moze thought that if she asked Amara to describe it, she would say something like "this is how people enjoy each other's company."

"Wait," Moze said, stopping the siren in front of the hall door. "Kiss for good luck?"

"How can I refuse?" Amara rolled her eyes and made a displeased face, but she did as she was asked.

There was no one in the hall by the fountain. FL4K and Zane were waiting for them on the street — the operative was sitting on the hood of a wrecked car — the kind Moze only seen in very old movies, and now they were considered rarities — it's still scary to imagine how much money and what connections Joey had, because when they first started the assault, the car was as good as new. Zane was talking as usual, and FL4K was looking for something in the branches of the nearest bush. The sun was not yet visible enough for the human eye to make out anything in the semi-darkness, but this was obviously not a hindrance to the robot.

Hearing their footsteps, Zane half turned and raised a hand in greeting. He looked extremely lively, which was surprising, despite the amount of wine he had finished alone yesterday. Moze thought he wouldn't be able to get up, but here he was.

"Good morning" the android said first, and nodded. They were nothing to complain about — sit and read your books and charge your batteries while mortals spend time sleeping.

"Too early to be good," Moze said, coming closer. "Well, Zane, you probably stayed up all night wondering how Ellie was going to suplex you when you met her? Fl4K will definitely not like a womanizer like you to touch her."

Amara snorted a little behind them, and FL4K made a sound that, if they were human, might have been interpreted as outrage. 

"No, I was trying to figure out whose moans were so clearly audible throughout the territory, unless they were the spirits of dead mercenaries," Zane retorted in a completely unexpected response, leaning one hand on the hood, twisting his gray mustache hiding a cheeky smile with the other.

There was a moment's silence, and the meaning of what he just said reached the gunner a fraction of a second too late and she was about to laugh it off, but Amara beat her to it.

"Were you listening? Oh, gods, we should have buried you then," the siren said in a dead tone. If it hadn't been the fact that it wasn’t light yet, Moze might have been able to see the flush of indignation on her face.

"So it's true?" Zane's eyebrows rose in surprise, as if he hadn't expected this response, and he turned his head to the side for a moment — Moze realized that he was looking at the hunter, who stood there as if he didn't know what to do with his giant body.

Amara also realized this, and, already looking at Fl4K, continued the thought:

"And you, too, you're worse than Claptrap," she said, covering her face with her hand and exhaling noisily. "Read more, and it guarantees you even more awkward situations."

"I thought... It's for the best?" it wasn't often that FL4K's usual confident tone was replaced by uncertainty.. "You people are absolutely impossible to understand."

Moze hurried to defuse the situation, and walked over to Amara to pick up her bag of parts and shake off her numbness with a reassuring smile. "Hey, relax, everything is fine," and then turned back to the operative.

"Well, Zane, now you officially know, but Amara can barely stand my jokes, so imagine what she'll do to you if you start talking like that for nothing," she said, indicating with her thumb at her throat what the siren might do to him. "And stop loitering, you still have to put the pod in order, so go ahead, you could have done this for a long time, since you can't sleep. But I'm flattered that you can hardly make a step without us."

"God, what have I gotten myself into?"

"Oh, shut up," she said, and gave him a light kick on the leg that hung down to the ground. Zane jumped off the hood with a heavy sigh.

It remains only to survive a short flight in a pod. She wasn't afraid for herself, but Amara clearly did not feel comfortable enough and needed to be talked to. Moze herself was happy, she had long been tired of hide-and-seek and wanted to be herself regardless of the situation. Amara will soon appreciate it, too. She doesn't know how to be offended for too long, and if one apologized to her, then the insults will be forgotten, if not immediately, then eventually.

It was just the beginning for them, and Moze was very, very excited,

07.06.2020 - 13.10.2020


End file.
